The Experiment
by Aprilup
Summary: When Mayuri decides to fiddle with zapakutos who knows what might happen? Unfortunately, Momo and Toshiro are caught up in Mayuri weird experiments again! What will this mean for the two?  set after aizen bashing arc  "ARGGHHHH! I'M GOING TO MURDER HIM!"


**AUTHOR TIME:** well, well, GUESS WHAT? ;) I'm back! And I'm attempting a humoresque piece this time. (Somehow my stories all turn out depressing or sad! =.=')

This story is set after the Aizen Bashing thingy and instead of having Hinamori heal in 4th Division, I'm having her heal in 12th like it states in the anime. (Unlike my other story, Impact Crater.)

Anyways, enjoy! :D

DISCLAIMER: I think Nemu deserves this one.

NEMU: . . .

ME: well . . . um . . . hi!

NEMU: . . .stares

ME: um, would you mind saying the disclaimer?

NEMU: Negative. starts up her whirring arm thingy

ME: ~sweat drops~ actually, I'll just say it.

I DO NOT OWN BLEACH!

**The Experiment**

A loud explosion echoed down the corridors of 12th Division Research Centre, rattling windows and doors as the g-force blew past. The shinigami, all wearing white lab coats, barely moved as the shockwave gusted past them. This had been going on for quite a while, so everyone was used to it. Hair whipping around their faces, each one continued their work.

"That one felt a bit stronger than normal, I think Taicho might be making some progress," a shinigami commented to his fellow colleague who was barely visible under the huge pile of paperwork that she was furiously working on.

She nodded but didn't look up from her paperwork.

"I do wish he would hurry up though, he's leaving all the paperwork to us as usual. Couldn't Kurotsuchi fuku-taicho do this?"

He shrugged.

"I wonder what he's doing that's so important."

"Mayuri-sama?"

Another explosion rocketed through the room, tossing Nemu's braid back and forth. Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the Captain in question didn't answer and didn't make any movement to acknowledge that he had heard. Muttering unintelligible words, he was bent over a work bench, completely absorbed. He fiddled again with the object on the table and another blast occurred. This time, Nemu could see that the object gave off a pinkish glow and was trembling vigorously.

"Mayuri-sama?"

Again there was no answer and Nemu just stood there waiting for a reply.

"Mayuri-sama?"

"MATAKU, _FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!_ What is it Nemu?"

"Hinamori-fukutaicho is here for a check-up."

Mayuri reluctantly put down his tools on his work table and turned around to face his passive Vice-Captain.

"Well, can't you take care of it Nemu?"

Nemu seemed to consider the question for a second and then answered her father.

"I could, Mayuri-sama, but it's her zanpakuto that you have been playing with and I do believe she wants it back."

Mayuri turned back to look at the pink hilted zanpakuto that lay on his table. He had been trying to figure out what gave the zanpakuto so much spirit and power, thus the numerous bursts of energy caused by his probing. Hinamori Momo's zanpakuto was quite interesting, actually. It was a fire type and quite a strong one at that. However, the wielder herself wasn't yet strong enough to achieve Bankai and Mayuri was very interested to test how strong it would be if it was forced into Bankai by someone else. But nobody can just pick up someone else's zanpakuto and achieve Bankai; the person had to be in tune with the zanpakuto and with its owner.

"Mayuri-sama, Hitsugaya-taicho also requests that he be released soon."

Mayuri was about to respond with an insult but suddenly registered the name.

Hitsugaya Toshiro.

Who was it again? Oh, yes it was that young captain who wielded an ice zanpakuto but was so (ironically) hot-headed and had quite a temper. He was also the childhood friend of Hinamori Momo wasn't he? The gears in Mayuri's mind shifted quickly while he thought over his new plan. Hadn't he read something that was related to that boy's zanpakuto the other day? Yes, he had, hadn't he? And it included some very interesting things.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a possibility that he could hit two birds with one stone.

He chuckled gleefully; this was going to be fun.

"Nemu, tell Hitsugaya that he will be released today and I'll be handing his zanpakuto back as well. And show Hinamori Momo in."

As Hinamori walked out of 12th Division, she vaguely registered the fact that the frequent tremors coming from the building had stopped. She was more curious about her zanpakuto, though. She was not allowed to handle it until her full strength returned and she had been forced to leave it in 12th Division; the place where she underwent organ restoration. She touched her stomach. It was hard to believe that several weeks ago she had basically lost all her internal organs and was near the brink of death. After rushing her in to get them restored, the wounds took a very long time to heal because the ice from the zanpakuto that had stabbed her kept her body from healing itself.

She hadn't even gotten a chance to see Toshiro because he wasn't allowed visitors in his fragile state. Hinamori frowned slightly; she had wanted to apologize. For everything that had happened. It was her fault that he was hurt that badly. She hoped Kurotsuchi-taicho would release him soon; it had been a few weeks now, and he should have been healed before her. But she knew; healing your injuries didn't mean you'd come back to life. You had to have the will to live. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and sorrow wash over her. Was he healing so slowly because he didn't want to live anymore? Had she really hurt him so much, he didn't want to be in a world where she existed?

She touched her zanpukto that was hanging from her hip to gain some comfort from her constant mentor and friend. Tobiume was strangely quiet today, the blade felt slightly heavier and longer than before for some strange reason. Hinamori sighed. She probably just wasn't used to her zanpukto, after not handling it for several weeks now. As she headed towards a training ground to begin practising, she didn't notice that under the pink wrapping of the zanpukto hilt there was a small, nearly un-noticeable patch of sky blue.

Tobiume was not happy. She sighed for the 100th time hoping her wielder would hear her, but it was to no avail. Fed up with everything, she set all the plum trees around her on fire just to cool her angry head. First she had been plunged into battle after so long and was desperate for revenge on that bastard who had hurt her wielder. But surprise, surprise! That stupid Aizen had cast an illusion and ruined everything. Then she was put away from battle once again and placed in the "care" of that horrendous, so-called Captain Mayuri. He didn't even deserve that title! He had tried to probe into her world and force her to open up to Bankai!

Tobiume crossed her sleeves.

It wasn't that simple.

Bankai isn't something easily achieved in a mere minutes, hours or days. You had to find the strength that was within yourself, and release it. That is your Bankai. Most people gained Bankai from years of hard work and experience, but some (like that Kurosaki boy) had achieved it in a mere 3 days. She shook her head and as she did, the last of the flaming petals from the plum trees fell. It was making her feel quite uncomfortable, having someone else in her inner world other than Hinamori.

Though, she had to admit, his new idea might actually work. It was never put in action before, never thought of, so Tobiume wasn't so sure. However the logic behind it made sense. She sighed and flopped gracefully to the ground. If only the plan didn't involve someone else invading her personal space. She would just have to stand it for a little bit longer, for Momo's sake.

She still didn't understand why Hyorinmaru had never told the boy.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, HYORINMARU!"

The cry echoed throughout Tobiume's world and she just ignored it. That foolish youngster, he didn't even realise that he was calling out the wrong name!

"HYORINMARU!"

"IT'S TOBIUME, BAKA!" She yelled back, knowing that he couldn't hear her because he was trying too hard to listen for the sound of his own zanpakuto. She vaguely considered the possibility of materializing and telling him but then dismissed it, knowing that it had all been part of Mayuri's plan. Hitsugaya had to hear Tobiume's voice on his own for it to work and he had to accept her like he did with Hyorinmaru.

"DAIGUREN HYORINAMARU!"

Tobiume face palmed; this was going to take a while; Mayuri had miscalculated just how clueless this icy "genius" was sometimes.

"Mayuri-sama?"

"Yes, what is it, Nemu?"

Nemu stood still as Mayuri fiddled with the digits on his supercomputer. The computer kept on making weird beeps until Mayuri finally flicked a switch and it stopped.

"Well? Did you find it?"

"I did, Mayuri-sama."

"Then what are you waiting for? Hand it over!"

She passed the scroll that she was holding into Mayuri outstretched palm.

"Mmm, yes, this is good . . ."

Mayuri scanned the scroll, looking for the passage that would confirm his suspicions. He pulled the scroll open a bit further and discovered what he was looking for. A grin spread across his face as he read it.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri is a genius.

"EH?"

As Hyorinmaru watched the poor girl come to terms with what had happened, he mentally noted that he would have to have a chat with Hitsugaya about this girl. Her reiatsu feels very familiar for some reason. He felt that he had known about her way before Hitsugaya had first introduced Hyorinmaru to his childhood friend.

Hyorinmaru's thoughts trailed off and returned back to Hinamori who was still on her knees, completely and uttered confused.

"Yes, Hinamori-san, I am Hyorinmaru as you can clearly see."

"B-b-but, what happened to my zanpakuto? What happened to-"

"I do not know; though I do believe that the Captain of the 12th Division switched your zanpakuto with Toshiro's."

The zanpakuto spirit did feel a little surprised. He expected that the zanpakuto swap would be discovered sooner or later, but he didn't realise that Hinamori Momo could easily accept him and even release him.

Hinamori was still gripping Hyorinmaru's hilt quite tightly and that was how Hyorinmaru could communicate to her through her head.

"Ano, Hyorinamaru-san."

"What?"

"It feels a bit weird. Do you zanpakuto spirits have genders?"

Hyorinmaru scoffed at the question.

"Of course we do. Your zanpakuto's a girl isn't she? Hitsugaya is a guy so obviously I am a male."

Hinamori flushed scarlet and fainted.

"B-b-but that means you're a guy who is in my body and mind . . ."

"I AM GOING TO MURDER THAT MAYURI! GAHHHHH!"

Tobiume flinched a little at the volume of Hitsugaya's anger and lifted an eyebrow at the fuming kid. He had finally heard her call and now he knew the truth of what had happened.

"Well, you are going to have to send me back to Hinamori immediately. I do not feel very comfortable like this."

She lifted her sleeve to cover her blushing face.

She had known all along whom Hitsugaya and his zanpakuto were to her. The thing that confused her was why Hyorinmaru hadn't confronted her or his owner yet about it. She had decided not to tell Hinamori until they found out. It was only proper for the male to go first wasn't it?

"Wait a second, does that mean Hinamori has Hyorinmaru right now?"

"I would assume so, yes."

Hitsugaya had turned to go when Tobiume pulsed under his hand.

"Before you go, you need to know something."

"What's that?"

Tobiume sighed. So that zanpakuto spirit hadn't bothered to tell him after all; looks like it was up to her.

"Do you know the story of Hyorinmaru's spirit bond?"

Mayuri's fingers danced over the keyboard and two windows popped up onto the screen. He leaned back into his chair and observed the two screens. Things were progressing exactly as planned.

Suddenly he leaned forward and stared at the left screen.

So that silly boy didn't know after all. Well, it was a minor setback for a major plan. As long he could observe how this affected that fuku-taicho and her progress towards Bankai, he was fine with things continuing as they were.

At least he had monitors.

"Are you alright now?"

Hinamori jumped and re-adjusted her grip on the unfamiliar zanpakuto.

"Y-yes, I'm quite alright."

"Are you sure you want to try this?"

"O-of course. Hitsugaya-kun will surely sense it; right?"

"_Saa._ Who knows?"

Hinamori breathed in and out heavily, twice.

_Here goes nothing._

"Sit upon the frozen heavens! Hyorinmaru!"

There was a blast of cold air and fog misted the training ground. Cloud gathered up high above and lightning flashed. Thunder followed suit with a deep rumble as the lightning struck the ground. The first traces of snow began to fall from the sky, steadily growing in speed and number as it fell. Soon there were countless snowflakes floating through the sky, each one as beautiful as each one was unique.

The mist settled and revealed a perfectly frozen ball of ice. There was an air pocket within and inside that was Hinamori, who sank to her knees from the amount of pressure.

Surely, this would be enough for someone, anyone to notice?

Her body too weakened by the sudden blast of energy, she collapsed onto the icy floor of the ball, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Nearby, the snowflakes gathered and landed softly on top of the silver blade.

Nemu waited carefully until her father/captain was fast asleep at his computer when she crept in and took out the scroll she had handed him before. It was not programmed for her to do this and it felt odd disobeying orders, even though it was indirectly. Still, she had to find out what Mayuri was doing. After all, they were father and daughter and as such, she is interested in everything Mayuri is. (This includes this recent zanpakuto obsession that had come over him.)

After finding a little corner in one of the spare labs, she sat down and unfurled the scroll. Her eyes darted back and forth across the page, her supercomputer brain processing and memorizing every word.

_**The Legend of the Spirit Bonding**_

_Years and years ago . . . generations past generations . . . zanpakutos once wandered the spirit world freely. They walked side by side with their masters and fought side by side. There were no __**katanas **__to restrain the spirits. After all, why would you shackle a part of yourself? There were many powerful zanpakuto spirits that resided in that time and one of them went by the name of Ice Ring._

_He had a powerful master whom he always obeyed, no matter what. _

_Then, his master fell deeply into something the Living Humans named "love". _

_She was a beautiful soul who belonged in one of the noble families too. After a series of odd events, his master decided to call his zanpakuto spirit for help. His master wanted something that was impossible to do. Or so Ice Ring thought. _

_The bonding of two souls was impossible as they would be forever reborn into different places and different times. However, zanpakuto spirits that essentially belonged on two different planes could be connected together and even in the case of rebirth, the bonds would force the two to find each other again. Thus, his master and his master's love would always be together as long as their zanpakuto spirits were intertwined. _

_A side effect of this fusion would be that the weaker zanpakuto spirit would gain more power from the stronger one, thus balancing out the equation. _

_Ice Ring performed the ceremony with his master's love's zanpakuto spirit secretly, away from the eyes of other souls and other zanpakuto spirits. But most importantly it was to hide from the Great Spirit King who ruled their land. _

_Whether the deed was done successfully or not, no one knows._

_Apparently there was an odd side effect to the bond, but of course, no one knows. _

_So the question is: did it work? _

She rolled up the scroll neatly and folded it back into its original container. Nemu understood now why Mayuri decided to use those two for his experiment.

If Mayuri's calculations were right . . . then it would mean Hinamori should essentially have Bankai by now. She frowned. But Hinamori Momo doesn't have Bankai, so it doesn't even out. Something was either missing in the story or in Mayuri's calculations.

Nemu doubted that her father would be wrong.

"That _baka_!"

Hitsugaya muttered to himself as he arrived on scene. The whole training ground was dying because of the freezing cold temperature. The lush green grass had turned brown, the beautiful flowers had wilted, and the trees were shedding its leaves. He made his way towards the centre of the training ground where Hinamori was. He melted any ice he encountered with Tobiume's fire, leaving a trail of warmth behind him as he walked.

"That stupid bed-wetter, what is she trying to do now? Kill herself? Jeez."

He reached the icy ball and peered in at Hinamori.

He pulled back a little in shock. Her lips were a light shade of violet, her limbs looked heavy and limp, and her face! Those well-known features of her face were pale and covered with a layer of frost.

She looked like she was de-

No. He would not say it or think it because that was impossible. She would never do that to him.

Hitsugaya lifted a shaking arm up to the huge ball and tried to channel Tobiume's warmth through his arm to melt the ice. After standing there for a while, the ice hadn't decreased a bit.

"What's wrong?"

Hitsugaya questioned himself. But he knew the answer already. His ice power that was within Hyorinmaru took more than mere fire to melt. But Hinamori shouldn't be able to access that much power yet.

Though, he himself had accessed Hinamori's easily after learning her zanpakuto's name.

"Damn it, Momo! Don't just lie there and always make me do all the hard work. When I get you out of there, just you wait to see how much paperwork I'm going to force you to do."

There was no reply from Momo; he hadn't been expecting one.

"Come on, Tobiume, she's your master! Get her to wake up and stop this before she kills herself!"

"I'm afraid that is impossible now."

The sad sound of Tobiume's voice scared Hitsugaya, even though he didn't know why.

"Why?"

Tobiume paused and sighed before answering.

"Because you are my master now, remember what I told you? Hinamori needs Hyorinmaru to join with me so we can go back to our original masters and she can be freed of that ice ball. That way, she can re-awaken Hyorinmaru who has forgotten his promise to me and his original master."

"His promise?"

"His promise is to reunite the two souls who would love each other eternally. His promise is to his master whom he obeys every command. His promise is to seek me out and find me."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened as he finally realised who the legend was about.

"You mean-"

"Yes. The master of Ice Ring is you and the one that Ice Ring was supposed to lead you to is Hinamori."

Mayuri woke up with a start.

He frantically moved his hands along the switches and buttons, attempting to quiet the machine that was going haywire. There was a massive boom which left Mayuri coughing in the smoke that was emitted from the computer. Mayuri pounded furiously on the screen that had just fizzled out on him.

"Stupid machine!"

Looks like his calculations were wrong. Bankai wouldn't be needed for the connection. A simple shikai would do. Miffed, he sank back into his chair, deep in thought.

Oh well, there was always next time.

He wasn't feeling interested anymore in zanpakuto lore. Actually, he felt going and exploring the 4th Division's medicines, after all, medicine and science are closely linked aren't they?

His mood already changing with his abrupt decision, Mayuri headed off towards the 4th Division barracks, forgetting completely about the mess he left behind.

"Hitsugaya-san."

He looked down at the sword.

"What?"

"Look closely, Hyorinmaru isn't there in the ice with Hinamori! She must have dropped the sword when she released shikai."

Hitsugaya quickly began brushing away the snow in the area around the ice sphere that Hinamori was in. She must have left it somewhere nearby. His fingers touched something that was colder and harder than the snow and immediately he grasped the object with his hands and lifted it out under the pile of snow that had built up on top.

As soon as he made contact with the sword, the two sword spirits began bickering.

"Hyorinmaru! You failed in your promise! I noticed and remembered before you and I was waiting so long for you! All these years of rebirth have made you brain clogged with ice and snow!"

"Y-you're-"

"Yes! It's me! How could you forget? Didn't we promise each other every single time we met?"

"I didn't forget! Toshiro mentioned that his childhood friend had a zanpakuto. But he never said that it was named Plum Tree and so I never thought it was you!"

The two spirits carried on, oblivious to the poor captain whose head was nearly about to explode from the amount of spiritually pressure and conversations going on. Finally Hyorinmaru chose to shut the dainty zanpakuto spirit up by using a method that didn't include words because she would win every time he tried. Instead, he grabbed Tobiume by the shoulders and forced his mouth on hers.

At this point Hitsugaya was nearly about to collapse from shock.

The moment the two spirits connected, a myriad of memories flooded into Hitsugaya's head. There were different people and different places, but in each one he was definitely sure he was someone who reminded him so much of Momo. He shut his eyes and let the memories wash over him.

Of course.

It was all his past reincarnations.

The Dango Precipice wipes each soul's memories after each rebirth; therefore, he never remembered anything about Momo past reincarnations.

"Am I forgiven?"

Tobiume attempted not to meet Hyorinmaru's eyes but he just tilted her head up to meet his, firmly but gently. A small blush spread across her cheeks and Tobiume waved her sleeves around in a flurry. Finally she gave in and smacked Hyorinmaru on the head.

"Yes."

At that point the ice prison that Hinamori was trapped in burst open and she fell to the ground with a small "oof". The ice surrounding her shattered into tiny shards. Hitsugaya left the swords lying together on the grass and hurried towards Hinamori. He rushed to her side and helped her sit up.

"Uhh."

Hinamori groaned as her frozen muscles relaxed.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and saw that Hitsugaya was very close to her. In fact, he had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other was tenderly supporting her left arm. She blushed in the exact same way that Tobiume did and attempted to escape from Hitsugaya's grasp.

"Careful now."

Hitsugaya hadn't let her go and she couldn't compete against his strength.

"Shiro-chan . . ."

"What is it?"

She hesitated a little.

"Those memories . . . were they real?"

Hitsugaya's eyebrows rose. So she had received those memories too. Of course she doesn't know the story yet since Tobiume never told her.

"Yes. Yes, they were. They were you and me."

"You and . . . me?"

Hinamori asked, confused.

Hitsugaya forgot all about Mayuri's plan, his zanpakuto, and the wrecked training ground at that moment. Everything just really seemed insignificant compared to the person sitting beside him right now. Now that he understood why she was so special to him, it made no sense to hide his true feelings from her.

"Momo."

"Y-yes?"

"Remind me to thank Mayuri after all this."

"After all what-"

She was cut off by Hitsugaya's soft lips pressing against her own. Shocked, Hinamori just sat there for a moment, not comprehending what had just happened. But soon she responded and kissed him back lightly, unsure of whether it was the right thing to do or not.

Hitsugaya broke off the kiss and grinned at Hinamori. The suddenly smile caught Hinamori off guard, he rarely ever smiled and when he did, it was only for her. It made Hinamori want to keep that smile on his face forever; he looked so content and happy with it.

"Shiro-chan."

"Yes?"

"Why did Kurotsuchi-taicho do this weird experiment?"

"Whatever he decided, I'm actually glad he did."

"We would have found out sooner or later wouldn't we?"

Hitsugaya laughed.

"Yes, we would. But I prefer sooner rather than later, don't you?"

Hinamori laughed too and nodded.

"I love you, Shiro-chan."

Hitsugaya's breathing stopped for a second after hearing the very words he wondered and hoped for, for a very long time.

"I love you too, Hinamori."

**AUTHOR NOTE: ** I have finished this oneshot in a time span of 3 hours. My eyes are sore and my fingers hurt from typing and deleting and typing again. If there mistakes or typos please inform me! (I'm sure I left some!)

I just had to finish this! (Resulting in my longest one-shot EVER! Nearly 4,500 words!)

So . . . how was my first shot at some humour? It wasn't really funny was it? It was more like weird or something.

Anyways, REVIEW! :D

Aprilup


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